Two Wrongs Make a Right

Description

One of Amazon’s Best Romances of 2022!

Opposites become allies to fool their matchmaking friends in this swoony reimagining of Shakespeare’s beloved comedy, Much Ado About Nothing.
 
Jamie Westenberg and Bea Wilmot have nothing in common except a meet-disaster and the mutual understanding that they couldn’t be more wrong for each other. But when the people closest to them play Cupid and trick them into going on a date, Jamie and Bea realize they have something else in common after all—an undeniable need for revenge.
 
Soon their plan is in place: Fake date obnoxiously and convince the meddlers they’re madly in love. Then, break up spectacularly and dash everyone’s hopes, putting an end to the matchmaking madness once and for all.
 
To convince everyone that they’ve fallen for each other, Jamie and Bea will have to nail the performance of their lives. But as their final act nears and playing lovers becomes easier than not, they begin to wonder: What if Cupid’s arrow wasn’t so off the mark? And what if two wrongs do make a right?”Champagne and chocolate in book form. Prepare to be completely swept away.”—Helen Hoang, New York Times bestselling author of The Heart Principle

“I am deeply in awe of Chloe Liese’s spectacular talent for creating characters that make readers feel seen. Two Wrongs Make A Right is the perfect romcom: a stunning mix of hilarious tropes, swoony romance, and lovable, relatable characters. A must read for every romance lover!”—Ali Hazelwood, New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis

“Absolute romantic perfection! Two Wrongs Make A Right is sexy, and smart, and achingly sweet. I absolutely adored every word.”—Christina Lauren, New York Times bestselling authors of The Unhoneymooners

“These two wrongs are so very right for each other. Equal parts smart and steamy, with razor-sharp wit and an elegant, playful rhythm that would make Shakespeare proud. There’s no warmer hug than a Chloe Liese book.”—Rachel Lynn Solomon, New York Times bestselling author of Weather Girl

“Exquisite tension, hilarious banter, steamy romance and a hero and heroine with personalities that burst from the pages. A top must-read of the year!”—Samantha Young, New York Times bestselling author of A Cosmic Kind of Love

“Two Wrongs Make A Right is an excellent addition to any contemporary romance lover’s keeper shelf! Trope lovers will swoon as Bea and Jamie journey from annoyances fake dating to unlikely friends who fall in real love! Chloe Liese nails the fast-paced ensemble chemistry of the source material and delivers a sophisticated playfulness of prose that echoes Shakespeare himself.”—Rosie Danan, author of The Roommate

“Two Wrongs Make a Right is a deeply tender romance that plays delightful music upon both the heartstrings and the funnybone. Full of charm, zest, and sensual heat, and with characters who are sure to join the ranks of readers’ beloved favourites, it is the perfect book for anyone who loves love.”—India Holton, national bestselling author of The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels

“Two Wrongs Make a Right overflows with snappy banter, heartfelt emotion, and delicious swooniness and heat. Bea and Jamie’s tenderness and care for one another shine on the page, and Liese’s wit and humor undergird the entire story. This book is a true pleasure to read, sure to delight her many current fans even as it earns her many new ones.”—Olivia Dade, national bestselling author of Spoiler Alert

“Two Wrongs Make a Right is like hot chocolate and a croissant. It’s whimsically-patterned leggings on an autumn day. It’s cozy, soft, sweet, and satisfying—Bea and Jamie are opposites-attract excellence; I loved their banter, and even more than that, how they evolve to become each other’s unwavering pillar of support and protection. Jamebea forever!”—Sarah Hogle, author of You Deserve Each Other

“Reading a Chloe Liese novel is like taking a masterclass in rom-coms—every book is tender, sexy, and hilarious. With a delicious slow-burn, and divine payoff, Two Wrongs Make A Right became an instant favorite, and a story I’ll cherish for years to come. Liese’s autistic rep makes me feel so seen, and she’s a pioneer in neurodiverse love stories. Words can’t do justice to the impact her books have.”—Mazey Eddings, author of A Brush with Love

“Chloe Liese’s Two Wrongs Make a Right is both a high-heat romantic romp and a tender examination of what it means to find love on your own terms. Readers are sure to fall in love with Bea and Jamie as each comes into their own with the help of the last person they ever expected. Fun, feisty, and vulnerable, Liese does so much right in this irresistible opposites attract romance.”—Sarah Grunder Ruiz, author of Love, Lists, and Fancy Ships

“Watching these two opposites gently fall in love is absolute magic! Two Wrongs Make a Right is the deliciously steamy, lovingly affirming, burst-of-joyful-romance my heart needed. Chloe Liese continues to reign as the master of steamy romance!”—Sarah Adams, author of The Cheat Sheet

“Lush, swoony contemporary take on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing… Liese weaves in aspects of Benedick and Beatrice’s love story (and famous dialogue exchanges) in winking, witty ways. It’s the perfect acknowledgement of this endlessly intoxicating, sparring, enemies-to-lovers couple.”—Entertainment Weekly

“Much Ado About Nothing gets a sexy contemporary spin in this fake-dating romance about an unlikely pair who attempt to get revenge on their matchmaking friends and family by pretending to fall in love and then dramatically break up.”—Buzzfeed

“From a meet-cute that crackles with wit and humor to pages upon pages of scorching tension, Liese has crafted a warm, delightful novel that emphasizes acceptance, communication, and the self-worth we can discover by both daring to love and letting ourselves be loved…An effervescent reimagining of the Bard packaged in an opposites-attract romance.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“In this lighthearted rom-com riff on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing from Liese… the banter is easy and the heat level is high.”—Publishers Weekly

“In this exceptionally smart and charming romance… Liese’s writing is crisp and funny, the characters are fully engaging, and the story is delightful.”—Booklist
 
“Liese (Everything for You) nods to Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing here, and readers will enjoy the snarky banter and other similarities to the play, along with the enemies-to-lovers plot, solid character development, and a little heat. Perfect for fans of The Hating Game by Sally Thorne.”—Library Journal

“Chloe Liese’s charming new novel, Two Wrongs Make A Right, offers a fresh take on the fake-dating theme… Bea and Jamie, whose stories play out through chapters from alternating viewpoints, are fresh and funny, and readers will be rooting for them all the way.”—Book ReporterChloe Liese writes romances reflecting her belief that everyone deserves a love story. Her stories pack a punch of heat, heart, and humor, and often feature characters who are neurodivergent like herself. When not dreaming up her next book, Chloe spends her time wandering in nature, playing soccer, and most happily at home with her family and mischievous cats.
 Reader’s Guide
Two Wrongs Make a Right by Chloe Liese
Discussion Questions:

1.   If you’re familiar with Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, what are some parallels and departures that you noticed between the original text and this modern reimagining in plot, themes, character names, and relationships? If you aren’t familiar with Much Ado, do you now find yourself curious to read it or watch a film adaptation?*

2.   This story features a neurodivergent couple: Beatrice is on the autism spectrum, and Jamie has anxiety. What was it like for you to see the world through their eyes? For those who aren’t neurodivergent, do you feel it has impacted how you might perceive and engage people who identify as neurodivergent? Are there some ways you relate to Jamie’s and Bea’s experiences?

3.   In both Much Ado and Two Wrongs Make a Right, we have two main couples in love: Jean-Claude and Juliet (in the original play, Claudio and Hero), and Jamie and Bea (Benedick and Beatrice). In both stories, their relationships follow very different paths. What do you think is the commentary on what makes for healthy partnership and love in how differently Jean-Claude and Juliet’s relationship progresses from Jamie and Bea’s? If you’re familiar with Much Ado, what do you think is the commentary on modern expectations for relationships in how different Jean-Claude and Juliet’s relationship arc is from that of their parallel characters?

4.   At first, Bea and Jamie seem like very different people, but they end up discovering a deeply compatible partnership. Do you think this is because they’re more similar than dissimilar, or because they appreciate and complement each other’s differences? Some of both? Have you had close friends or partners who are very different from you? What brought you together and connected you?

5.   Irony abounds in both Much Ado and Two Wrongs. In Much Ado, Benedick and Beatrice are tricked by their friends into overhearing their rehearsed discussions of the other’s feelings for them, but the irony is, while the specifics of what their friends say are lies, this deception leads Benedick and Beatrice to recognize the truth: they do have feelings for each other; they’ve just been terrified to admit or act on them. What do you think are the parallel situation(s) and irony in Two Wrongs?

6.   In their friendships and family relationships, Bea and Jamie navigate complex dynamics. What do you think of Bea’s relationship with her twin sister, Juliet, and its arc throughout the story? Of Jamie’s relationship with his family and Jean-Claude?

7.   Themes of right and wrong and making moral judgments come up a lot in this story. Do you think the friend group as well as Jules and Jean-Claude were wrong to meddle with Jamie’s and Bea’s love lives? Were Jamie and Bea wrong to plot revenge and to try to deceive them all in retaliation? Do how these relationships progressed and how the story ended shape your judgment of what was right and wrong of them to do?    

*I cannot recommend enough the film adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing (1993), starring Emma Thompson, Kenneth Branagh, Denzel Washington, Keanu Reeves, Kate Beckinsale, and many more incredible actors. It’s an all-time favorite and is sure to bring Shakespeare’s language accessibly and vividly to life for modern viewers, while also making you belly laugh and fall in love.. ONE .

Bea

A word to the wise: don’t have your fortune read unless you’re prepared to be deeply disturbed.

Wrong is right and right is wrong.

I foresee war-merry or misery, brief or long?

A mountain looms built on deception.

Surmount it and then learn your lesson.

See what I mean? Disturbing.

I tried not to get anxious. But the morning after my grim fortune reading, I woke up to an ominous daily horoscope email. The cosmic warning was loud and clear. Duly noted, universe. Duly noted.

Quaking in my Doc Martens boots, I decided to beg off the party. That didn’t go so well, seeing as this party is my twin sister’s doing and my twin is hard to say no to. And by “hard” I mean impossible.

So even though the universe has all but warned me to buckle up, buttercup, and the air crackles like ozone before a storm, here I am. I reported for duty at the family home-wore a dress, donned my crab mask, made a cheese-and-cracker plate. And now, like any self-respecting scaredy-cat, I’m hiding in the butler’s pantry.

That is, until my sister sweeps in and blows my cover. The swinging door flies open, and I’m caught in a beam of light like a crook cornered by the cops. I stash the peppermint schnapps behind my back and slide it onto the shelf just in time to prove my innocence.

“There you are,” Jules says brightly.

I hiss, throwing my arms across my face. “The light. It hurts my eyes!”

“No vampires in this costumed animal kingdom. That crab mask you’re wearing is scary enough. Come on.” Taking me by the arm, she tugs me toward the foyer, into the jungle menagerie of masquerading guests. “There’s someone I want you to meet.”

“JuJu, please,” I groan, dragging my feet. We pass an elephant whose trunk clips my shoulder, a tiger whose eyes hungrily trail my body, then a pair of hyenas whose laugh is spot-on. “I don’t want to meet people.”

“Of course you don’t. You want to drink in the butler’s pantry and eat half the cheese-and-cracker plate before anyone else can. But that’s what you want, not what you need.”

“It’s a solid system,” I grumble.

Jules rolls her eyes. “For eccentric spinsterhood.”

“And long may those days last, but I’m talking about my anxiety.”

“Having been your twin our entire lives,” she says, “I’m familiar with your anxiety and its bandwidth for socializing, so trust me when I say this guy’s worth it.”

The peppermint-schnapps-and-hide trick is my social anxiety lifesaver. I’m neurodivergent; for my autistic brain, engaging strangers isn’t easy or relaxing. But with the trick of a couple of covert swigs of schnapps-buzzed, calmer-I find the experience less overwhelming, and my company finds me not only passably sociable but minty fresh. At least, that’s how it typically goes. Not tonight. Tonight I have grim cosmic warnings hanging over my head. And I have a bad feeling about whatever she’s dragging me into.

“Juuuuules.” I’m that kid wailing in the grocery store. All I need is a smear of chocolate chip cookie on my cheek, a rogue untied shoelace, and I am typecast.

“BeeBee,” she singsongs back, glancing my way and failing to hide how disturbing she finds my papier-m‰chŽ crab mask. She tugs it up off my face and nestles it into my hair. I tug it back down. She tugs it back up.

I glare at her as I tug it back down again. “Lay off the mask.”

“Aw, c’mon. Don’t you think it’s time to come out of your shell?”

“Nope, not even for that dad-level pun.”

She sighs wearily. “At least you’re wearing a hot dress-oops, hold on.” We stop at the bottom of the steps before she yanks me behind the banister.

“What?” I ask. “You’re letting me go?”

“You wish.” Jules cocks a smooth dark eyebrow as her gaze dips to my dress. “Wardrobe malfunction.”

When I peer down, I see my dress gaping along my ribs. Thank you, universe! “Pretty sure it’s busted. I should go check it out in the bathroom.”

“So you can hide again? I don’t think so.” She slides the zipper up my ribs, the sound of my fate being sealed.

“It could be on its last little zippery legs. Shouldn’t chance it. A boob might pop out!”

“Uh-huh.” Clasping my hand, Jules launches me forward. I’m a meteor hurtling toward catastrophe. As we approach our destination, sweat breaks out on my skin.

I recognize her boyfriend, Jean-Claude, and Christopher, next-door neighbor, childhood friend, surrogate brother. But the third man, who stands with his back to us, a head above them, is a stranger-a tall, trim silhouette of dark blond waves and a smart charcoal suit. The man turns slightly as Jean-Claude speaks to him, revealing a quarter of his profile and the fact that he wears tortoiseshell glasses. A molten ribbon of longing unfurls inside me, curling toward my fingertips.

Distracted by that, I catch my toe on the carpet. I’m saved from a face-plant only because Jules, who’s used to my body’s abysmal proprioception, grips my elbow hard enough to keep me upright.

“Told you,” she says smugly.

I’m staring at a work of art. No. Worse. I’m staring at someone I want to make a work of art. My hands crumple around the fabric of my dress. For the first time in ages, I ache for my oil paints, the cool polished wood of my favorite brush.

My artist’s gaze feasts on him. Impeccably tailored clothes reveal the breadth of his shoulders, the long line of his legs. This man has a body. He’s the jock of your dreams who forgot his contact lenses and had to wear his backup glasses. The ones he wears at night when he reads in bed.

Naked.

The fantasy floods my mind, red-hot, X-rated. I’m a walking erogenous zone.

“Who is that?” I mutter.

Jules stops us at the edge of their circle and takes advantage of my stunned state, lifting up my mask as she whispers, “Jean-Claude’s roommate, West.”

West.

Oh shit. Now, thanks to my recent deep dive into hot historical romance, I’ve got even higher expectations for the guy, with a name like West. I picture a duty-worn duke, thighs stretching his buckskin breeches as he walks broodingly across the windswept moors. Braced for ducal grandeur, I fight a swell of anxiety as Jules breaks into the trio, as West turns and faces me.

Stunning hazel eyes lock with mine and widen. But I don’t linger on his eyes long. I’m too curious, too enthralled, my gaze traveling him, drinking in the details. His throat works as he swallows. His hand grips his glass, rough at the knuckles, his fingertips raw and red. Unlike nonchalant Jean-Claude, whose stance is arrogantly loose, his tie looser, there’s nothing relaxed or casual about him. Ramrod-straight posture, not a wrinkle to be seen, not a hair out of place.

His eyes travel me, too, and while I’m poor at reading facial expressions, I’m excellent at noticing when they shift. I observe the record-scratch moment as his features tighten. And the heat previously flooding my veins cools to a chilly frost.

I watch him register the tattoos swirling over my body, starting with the bumblebee’s dance down my neck, across my chest, beneath my dress. His gaze drifts upward to the frizz of my just-showered hair and messy bangs. Finally, it wanders over the family cat Puck’s white hair stuck to my black dress. There’s a rather aggressive tuft on my lap area, where Puck parked himself before I nudged him off. Mr. Prim and Proper looks like he thinks I forgot the lint roller. He’s absolutely judging me.

“Beatrice,” Jules says.

I blink, meeting her eyes. “What?”

After twenty-nine years of twinning coexistence, I know that her patient smile plus my full name means I zoned out, and she’s repeating herself. “I said, this is Jamie Westenberg. He goes by West.”

“Jamie’s fine, too,” he says, after an awkward beat of silence. His voice is deep yet quiet. It hits my bones like a tuning fork. I don’t like it. Not a bit.

He’s still scrutinizing me, this man I’ve decided most definitely doesn’t get to ruin hist-rom Wests and is instead getting called Jamie. Judgy Jamie suits him much better.

His eyes are back at it, traveling the tattoos along my neck, over my collarbone. His critical gaze is an X-ray. Heat flares in my cheeks. “See something you like?” I ask.

Jules groans as she steals Jean-Claude’s drink and throws back half of it.

Jamie’s gaze snaps up to mine as he clears his throat. “Apologies. You looked . . . familiar.”

“Oh? How so?”

He clears his throat again and slides his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “All those tattoos. They reminded me of . . . I thought you were someone else for a moment.”

“Just what someone who busts their ass on designing highly personal tattoos wants to hear,” I tell him. “They’re so unremarkable, they’re easily mistaken for someone else’s.”

“I’d think you’re accustomed to being mistaken for someone else,” Jamie says, glancing toward my twin.

“Thus the highly individual tattoos,” I say between clenched teeth. “To look like myself and no one else.”

He frowns, assessing me. “Well, no one can say you lack commitment.”

Christopher snorts into his drink. I rub my middle finger along the side of my nose.

“Maybe West recognizes those tattoos because you two have bumped into each other in the city . . . somewhere . . . at some point?” Jules says hopefully.

“Doubtful,” I tell her. “You know I don’t go out much, and definitely not to places that someone as stuffy-I mean, serious-as him would like.”

Jamie narrows his eyes. “Considering that club Jean-Claude dragged me to last year was a den of chaos, complete with an inappropriately handsy woman who projectile vomited on my shoes, I’m reassessing. Perhaps it was you.”

Jean-Claude rubs the bridge of his nose and mutters something in French.

I smile at Jamie, but it’s more like baring my teeth. “Chaos dens aren’t my speed, but whoever the poor soul was that bumped into you, then upchucked, I imagine puking was an involuntary response to the misfortune of making your acquaintance.”

Jules elbows me. “What’s gotten into you?” she hisses.

“I remember that night and it definitely wasn’t her,” Jean-Claude tells Jamie, before he directs himself to me. “West is determined to die a miserable old bachelor and has grown crotchety in his solitude. You’ll forgive his rusty manners.”

Jamie’s cheeks darken to a splotchy raspberry red as he stares into his half-empty lowball glass.

A determined bachelor? That means I’m not the only one who’s been avoiding romance. Dammit. I don’t want camaraderie with Mr. Bespectacled Stick Up His Ass.

“Bea, too,” Jules adds, like the nosy mind-reading twin she is. “She hissed at me when I found her hiding tonight. The determined spinster’s turned feral.” Smiling up at Jean-Claude, she tells us, “But I’m just as determined to see her put away those claws and be as happy as I am.”

The two of them share a lovey-dovey look, then a long, slow kiss that makes the cheese and crackers I ate crawl up my throat. As their kiss becomes kisses, Christopher adjusts his watch. Jamie studies his lowball glass. I pick Puck fur off my dress.

Glancing up from his watch, Christopher gives me a meaningful lift of his eyebrows. I shrug my shoulders. What?

He sighs before turning toward Jamie. “So, West, you and Jean-Claude go way back, right?”

“Our mothers are friends,” Jamie tells him. “I’ve known him my whole life.”

“That’s right,” Christopher says. “You went to the same boarding school?”

“Our mothers did, in Paris, which is where they’re from. Jean-Claude’s family didn’t move stateside until we were teens, and then we didn’t cross paths academically until we went to the same university.”

I roll my eyes. Of course Jamie’s one of those people whose French mother went to boarding school. I bet Jamie did, too. He’s got prep school written all over him.

As Christopher asks him another question, Jamie drains the rest of his cocktail. It smells like bourbon and oranges, and when he swallows, my gaze dips from his lips to his throat.

I stare at him as they talk, telling myself I don’t have to like him for my artist’s eye to love observing how the soft lighting of my family home knifes down the long line of his nose and caresses the angles of his face, revealing sharp cheekbones, a sharper jawline, a tight slash of a mouth that might be secretly soft when he’s not pinning it between his teeth. A stuffy stick-in-the-mud shouldn’t be allowed to be this beautiful.

“Well, Miss Crabby,” Christopher says, nudging my crab mask and rudely dragging me back into the conversation. “Did you make this yourself?”

“But of course,” I tell him, feeling Jamie’s eyes on me and hating how that makes me blush. “I’m not even going to ask you, Christopher. This brown bear disguise is clearly store-bought.”

“Sorry to disappoint. Some of us are too busy working to make our own masks for Jean-Claude’s masquerade birthday party.”

“Well, at least you’re color coordinated.” Christopher’s dark hair and amber eyes are the same shades as his bear mask. I sink my fingers into his neatly styled locks and purposefully mess them up.

He flicks my ear. “Ever heard of personal space? Back up. You reek of peppermint schnapps.”

I dodge the next flick. “Better than having bourbon breath.”

Jamie watches us in silence, a notch in his brow, like he’s never seen two people good-naturedly tease each other.

Before I can make some jab about that, the lovebirds break apart on a loud lip smack, leaving my sister breathless and pink-cheeked.

“The things Juliet comes up with,” Jean-Claude says on a sigh as he stares down at my sister. “A masquerade party, full of people I have to share you with.” Tucking her tighter against his side, he adjusts the neckline of her wrap dress so her cleavage is covered. “When all I need is you.”

Jules smiles and bites her lip. “I wanted to make it special. You always have me to yourself.”

“Not enough,” he growls.

Something about Jean-Claude’s intensity with my sister makes my skin crawl. They’ve been together for a bit over three months now, and rather than mellow out after the first frenzy of infatuation, like the people Jules has dated before, Jean-Claude just seems to be ramping up. It’s to the point that I can’t even walk around the apartment in a bathrobe because he’s always there, on the sofa, in our kitchen, in her room. My gut says it’s too much.US

Additional information

Dimensions	0.9000 × 5.1000 × 7.9000 in
Series	The Wilmot Sisters Series
Imprint	Berkley
ISBN-13	09780593441503
ISBN-10	0593441508
Author	Chloe Liese
Audience	General / adult
BISAC	FIC027020, FIC132000
Subjects	romantic novels, romance novel, gifts for her, romantic comedy, contemporary romance books, fake dating, Much Ado About Nothing, fiction books, books fiction, romance novels, romcom, best books, romantic comedies, comedy books, beach books for women, best books 2022, FIC132000, bergman brothers, chloe liese, love story, love, FIC027020, fiction, romance books, novels, beach reads, chick lit, retelling, romance book, romance, rom com, Summer reads, gifts for women, funny books, happily ever after, Shakespeare, books for women, contemporary romance